Albums
are a key element of stamp collecting. Albums range from simple
notebooks with homemade pages to complex hingeless albums. Preprinted
albums have the advantage of organizing the collection, but creativity
is constrained by the album designer's approach. There are albums for
most countries with pages for all the stamps of the country.
Supplements are printed periodically to bring the album up to date.
There are also less expensive worldwide albums which provide space only
for those stamps that a new collector is most likely to encounter.
There are also some very fine, preprinted general albums that are
divided by either alphabet or by time period. The complete worldwide
general albums are quite expensive. Even the single country albums are
not cheap.

Many collectors prefer to make their own albums. This
can be accomplished in a couple of ways. First, there are some quality
suppliers who provide very nice albums with blank stamp pages and fine
binders. After designing the layout of the items to be mounted, the
collector then types, prints, or draws any desired legends on the page
in a pleasing fashion,

Second, collectors can make albums from scratch. To make
an album, select the paper (a stiff archival ledger paper is
recommended) and
arrange the stamps to be mounted. Write in the text with a pencil or
pen, as desired. If you have a printer as well as a computer, you can
print some very nice personalized albums. There are some
very fine album pages already laid out at StampAlbums Web.
These can be downloaded economically. They are
especially nice printed on ledger paper (archival quality is
suggested). Desktop publishing software or high-end word processing
software can also be used to make fine pages. Ordinary 3-ring binders
can be used to hold such pages.

One of the decisions that collectors must make is
whether or not to hinge*
mint stamps. Hinging involves attaching the stamp to the page using a
small, gummed glassine rectangle. The hinge permits easy examination of
the back of a stamp while still holding it firmly in its place on the
page. Quality hinges, when properly applied, can be peeled from the
stamp with little likelihood of damage. While hinges involve little
problem for used stamps, their use will affect the gum of mint stamps.
Careful examination will reveal a mark on the gum of mint stamps. If
the hinge is not properly applied or not carefully removed, there is
the likelihood of creating a hinge thin on the stamp. Original gum is
of major concern to collectors and it can add significant value to an
older stamp. Hinging will reduce that value. To avoid the possible
disturbance of the gum, many collectors use plastic mounts. There are
many varieties from which to choose. All are comparatively expensive
when compared to hinges. Hinges, when properly selected and properly
used, can be quite satisfactory for most stamps.

Proper use of a hinge starts by folding the hinge across
the narrow dimension about one third of the distance from top to
bottom. Be sure the gum side of the hinge is on the outside of the
folded hinge. Next, using tongs, pick up the hinge and moisten the
short end very lightly with your tongue. Too much moisture will soften
the gum of a mint stamp and lead to problems. Do not moisten the whole
short end. Just a small portion is all that is necessary. Then, apply
this moistened short end to the upper back of the stamp, with the fold
of the hinge toward the top of the stamp. Then, press the hinge down to
complete the attachment of the hinge to the stamp. Next, pick up the
stamp from the side with the tongs leaving the long portion of the
hinge free. Moisten the bottom end of the free end of the hinge with
your tongue and place the stamp in the selected spot in your album.
Hinges are not peelable until after they are completely dry. If the
hinged stamp is misplaced, it must dry completely before being moved.

One
of the suggestions is to use hinges to mount plastic mounts containing
the stamps. This facilitates remounting as the collection is
reorganized.

* Words in red are defined in the Glossary
section - see link under Outline at right.